Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-02-18
GLUTTONS OF BYCONE DAYS.


Some Distinguished Cases of 7 eucndous
Appctitcs--.i rom the T."r1rGs.
Elizabeth Charlotte. the d.. ness of Or
leans writing under date of DC. ), 1918,
says: The late king, monsieur the
dauphin, and the Due de Berri were
enormous caters. / have often seen the
king eat four plates of different kinds of
soup, whole pheasant, a partridge, a
dish of salad. two thick slices of ham,
mutton favored with garlic, a plateful of
pastry and finish his repast with fruit and
hard boiled eggs" There was "A good
old German from Wittemberg, where my
Lord Hamlet attended the university.
who had fine faculty for storing away
provender. His case is well attested.
For wager he would eat whole sheep
or a whole pig or put out of sight bushel
of cherries, stones and all. He lived
until he was about so years of age,
great portion of the time supporting him
self by exhibiting the popularity of his
appetite, which, to say the least, must
have been very eccentric one. Thus,
he would chew glass, earthenware and
flint into small fragments. He had an
especial preference for caterpillars, mice
and birds, and when these were not pro-
durable he would content himself with
mineral substances. Once he put down
his ''maw and gulf" pen, the ink and
the sand pounce and he would have COB
bled the inkstand, too, had he not been
restrained.
Taylor, the water poet, tells of Nicholas
Wood of the county of Kent, in England,
who was a tolerably good trencherman.
On one occasion he got away with a
whole sheep; at another time with sew
eral rabbits; at third with three dozen
pigeons-well grown pigeons, not squabs
again with eighteen yards of black pud-
dings, and on other occasions 60 pounds
of cherries and three pecks of damsons.
DR.. COPELAND, in speaking of two children
who had wonderful appetites, the young
est, Z years old, being the worst, said:
1.-The quantity of food devoured by her
was astonishing. Everything that could
be laid hold of, even in its raw state, was
seized upon most greedily. Other articles,
an uncooked rabbit half a pound of
candles and some butter, were taken at
one time. The mother 9tated that this
little girl, who was apparently in good
health otherwise, took more food, if she
could possibly obtain it, than the rest of
her family, consisting of six beside her.
self
A trifle over hundred years ago a
London youth ate five pounds of Shout
der of lamb and two quarts of green peas
in fifty minutes; and Polish soldier,
who was presented at the court of Sax
ony, succeeded in one day in getting out
side of twenty pounds of beef and half a
roast calf, with the appropriate ''fixings.
When George III was king, a watch
makers apprentice, 10 years of age, in
quarters of an hour devOured leg
of pork weighing six pounds and a pro-
portionate quantity of pease pudding,
washing all down with pint of brandy
taken in two ''tots." The tall Nicl
Davenport the actor, is known to have
eaten seven pound turkey at single
sitting. Instances of depraved appetite
are numerous, and men have been known
to swallow fire, swords, spiders, flies
toads, serpents, cotton, hair, paper, wood
cinders. sand, earth, clay, chalk, flint
musket balls and earthen ware. On
man could swallow billiard balls and golC
watches.
In the New York medical journals fo
1922 record is made of a man wht
could swallow clasp knives with impu
nifty. One day he overdid the business b,
swallowing fourteen and it killed him
which well it might. In 1870, in Eng
land, two men of Wiltshire wagered will
each other as to which could consume tn,
greatest quantity of food in the shortes
space of time. One of them blotted from
existence six pounds and half of rabbit
a loaf of bread and two pounds of chess
in quarter of an hour, and he was 81
pleased with the appreciation he received
from the bystanders that he finished of
with a beefsteak, pint and half of gin
and half pint of brandy.-Good House
keeping.